Christmas and New Year message from the PCG

​It is Christmas once more, that special occasion when we Filipinos gather with friends and family to reflect on the year that is about to end while looking ahead to a new year that is yet to come.

​This year started well for our community after the Hong Kong government agreed to mandate a safety clause on window cleaning in all new contracts for foreign domestic workers. We demonstrated our resolve to protect and ensure the welfare of our nationals until yearend by clamping down on potential illegal recruitment to third countries.

​Following the visit of Labor Secretary Sylvester H. Bello III in October 2016, we were fortunate this year to welcome the arrival of President Rodrigo R. Duterte once in May, and of Foreign Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano in July and November – the first such visits by our top leaders for the better part of a decade.

​This year was exceptional too, for the landmark collaboration between our Consulate General and the Hong Kong government, together with the International Social Services-Hong Kong, in gathering the migrant community for the musical extravaganza “Celebrate Colours: Hong Kong Is Home”. The spectacle was made part of the official festivities to mark the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR).

​I am also happy to note our maiden participation at the Hong Kong Flower Show in Victoria Park in March, which earned for the Philippine booth a Special Award for Design Excellence. The restaging of Ang Ugoy ng Duyan (The Sway of the Cradle) by Teatro Filipino at the McPherson Stadium in Mong Kok in July was a feather in the community’s cap.

​Thanks to your support, we are encouraged to work doubly hard in strengthening not only business-to-business but also people-to-people ties between our two sides in 2018, when we celebrate the 60th year of the establishment of the Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong.

On behalf of all our officers and staff, I wish you and your loved ones joy, peace and all the blessings this Christmas and always.